Quotes of the Day

Most reporters like to tell adventure stories, but when the subject of encounters with dangerous animals comes up, I usually keep quiet. That's because the one time I went trekking in the deepest jungles of Borneo, I came no closer to a threatening beast than the surprised face of a wild boar being roasted over an open fire by a tribe of nomads. It's also because on the way home from that trip, I rewarded myself with a stay in one of my favorite hotels in Malaysia — Lone Pine, a newly refurbished relic of colonial days on the west-coast island of Penang.

To the delight of my two small children, the hotel keeps three horses and a small menagerie that includes civets, rabbits, goats, geese and a large turkey named Lurker. Fresh from the wilds, I strode confidently in among the animals only to watch as the turkey's flopping wattle swelled and changed color from purple to enraged scarlet. "You'd better run," was the laconic advice of Annie, who looks after the animals. I leapt over the paddock fence just in time. So much for animal adventures.

After that, I was happy to confine myself to the hotel's broad lawns, the pool and the beach (though my children played happily with Lurker). The Lone Pine, completed in 1948, was for years the only hotel on Batu Ferringhi Beach. It is one of several small, distinctive hotels in Malaysia that make a refreshing change from the cookie-cutter resorts where the ranks of sun lounges and sunburned bodies seem to stretch on forever. With only 50 rooms, the hotel is a labor of love for its owners — and therein lies much of its charm. The two-story buildings, with their louvered shutters and wide verandas, are set amid wide lawns and behind a screen of casuarina trees that block out the sprawling modern resorts lining much of the rest of the beach. The staff treat guests with a slightly absent-minded graciousness that's distinct from the sometimes forced politeness that seems to be the norm elsewhere. Rooms range from $100 for a standard to about $420 for a suite. (tel: 60-4-881-1511/1512; www.lone pinehotel.com).

Langkawi has an air of bucolic sleepiness that is the opposite of Penang's bustle. Visitors looking to experience something of the rural way of life followed for generations by the island's native Malays can book one of the four traditional all-wood houses at Bon Ton, a hotel and spa run by spunky expatriate Australian Narelle McMurtrie. The chalets range from $50 to $85 (tel: 60-4-955 3643/6787; www.bonton resort.com). Each house is different and all were brought in from remote villages and reassembled. Bon Ton also has a spa, a small shop selling artifacts from around the region, and a restaurant set in a Balinese-style open-air veranda. It serves traditional Malaysian cuisine and modern Australian dishes that combine to produce what may be the island's best dining spot. And for after dinner, there's the Chin Chin bar, set in a restored 60-year-old Chinese shophouse. "We wanted to call it the Opium Lounge," jokes McMurtrie, "but we didn't think we'd get the name approved." The place is intoxicating enough to make anyone forget their troubles for a little while

• SIMON ELEGANT
• A taste of bliss on Malaysian islands